1. Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a display device having an illuminating body that illuminates a display window provided in a main device body and to a manipulation switch equipped with the display device, and more particularly the embodiments of the present disclosure are applied to a vehicle-mounted manipulation switch.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a manipulation button on a manipulation switch mounted in an automobile or the like has a display device that displays, for example, the turn-on and turn-off operations of the manipulation button in a switchable manner.
The above display device has an illuminating body that illuminates a display window formed in the manipulation body, which constitutes the main body of the display device. This type of illuminating body is often made of a resin in the same color as the surface of the manipulation button so that while the manipulation switch is not in use, the display window does not become outstanding and thereby the display device has an upscale appearance. Therefore, the resin of the illuminating body often is in a smoke color with low light permeability.
If, however, the illuminating body is made of a resin in a smoke color, while the manipulation switch is in use, the brightness of the illuminating body, which illuminates the display window, is lowered and the illumination of the display window becomes insufficient. This is problematic in that the display window cannot be visually recognized with ease.
In view of this situation, some manipulation switches have a display device in which an illuminating body is formed in double molding by bonding a first molding member, disposed close to a light source, which is made of a resin having high light permeability, and a second molding member, disposed close to a display window, which is made of a resin having low light permeability, the resin being in, for example, a smoke color. With the display device structured as described above, brightness with which the display window is illuminated is increased when compared with the display device having an illuminating body formed from only a resin in a smoke color, so the display window can be visually recognized with ease.
A related technique is disclosed in, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-116536.
The above illuminating body in the conventional display device has a structure in which a surface of the first molding member close to the light source and a surface of the second molding member close to the display window are bonded together directly in double molding. Therefore, these resins may be mixed on the bonded surfaces of the first illuminating member and second illuminating member, which may result in uneven bonding. If the bonded surface of each illuminating member is uneven, light directed to the display window does not diffuse. This has been problematic in the entire display window cannot be brightened.
These and other drawbacks exist.